BACKGROUND READING FOR LESSON TWO

Cascades

    There is some debate as to whether “Ragtime music” is true jazz. Some point to the fact that Ragtime was written music with the performer playing the score without improvisation. One theory is that jazz developed from Ragtime and other music played by the brass bands and honkytonk juke joint pianists when performers who could not read music learned pieces by ear, and then began to improvise for their own enjoyment. It is that characteristic of improvisation when combined with a driving syncopated beat than defined early jazz.

    Richard Scott, the pianist in this recording, speaks glowingly of Joplin: “Scott Joplin earns his title as the King of Ragtime with every piece he wrote. It is impressive to me that while defining the ragtime style, he always seemed to take the music in different directions. His “Cascades” is a perfect example of this. Each section of the piece offers something interesting and challenging, from double-handed arpeggios in the first section to catchy melodies in the second, to rumbling left-hand octaves in the third. Few composers of ragtime since the days of Joplin are able to assemble such creative ideas within a piece.”

    Roughly two miles from the present site of Jefferson Expansion National Memorial in St. Louis, MO was the Rosebud, a variety saloon where ragtime pioneer Scott Joplin wrote many of his songs. The Rosebud was only a short streetcar ride from 2658 Delmar Street, Joplin’s home in St. Louis and now a state Historic Site. One of these songs, “Cascades,” is said to have been written by Joplin exclusively for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. “The Cascades” was an artificial waterfall and fountain garden that was a design feature of the Fair.

 

Just A Closer Walk with Thee

   While “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” was a popular song to emerge from the development of African American gospel music in the 1920s, it has also become associated with the New Orleans jazz funeral. Old hymns and spirituals are played achingly slowly during a funeral procession on the way to the cemetery, and happy celebratory music is played on the way back. “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” is perhaps the most well-known funeral dirge and is guaranteed to be played by the brass band as they slowly travel to the deceased’s final resting place. There is some debate to the origin of this song but most indications lead to at least a portion of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” going back to the mid 19th century.

    The song became a jazz piece as street musicians, many of whom could not read music, began to improvise, especially when they launched into a more spirited rendition of a traditional hymn for the journey away from the cemetery back into the city. It also became common for musicians who were “sight readers” to improvise beyond what was written in the score.

 

Brass Band Medley

 In New Orleans, life is celebrated through a recognition that every day is precious and that life can be fleeting. An emphasis is placed on celebrating life and enjoying leisure time with family and friends, always with good food and music. Death is celebrated, as well, with a brass band funeral, meant to encompass all the imaginable emotions involved when a loved one passes away. Slow dirges, always hymns and spirituals, are played on the way to the cemetery, and raucous up-tempo brass band numbers are played on the way back.  The whole event seems to echo the old saying sometimes heard in New Orleans that one is to “cry when the baby is born and rejoice when they die.” During a brass band funeral, all the uninvited guests that follow the brass band form what is known as the “second line.”  The “first line” is made up of the band, family members of the deceased, or the members of a benevolent society or social aid & pleasure club to which the deceased may have belonged.

 

I Hate a Man Like You

    First recorded in 1929, the original version of this song featured vocalist Lizzie Miles (1895 – 1963) with piano accompaniment by Jelly Roll Morton.  At the time, Miles had recorded on multiple labels, performed internationally, survived the 1918 Flu epidemic, and endured the racism prevalent during this era. This version of “I Hate a Man Like You” features Matt Hampsey on guitar and Johnaye Kendrick singing eloquently about the evil male archetype that Lizzie knew in her day. The following is an excerpt from a Woman in Jazz exhibit, created by Aubrey Brown during her internship at the New Orleans Jazz NHP:

    The song was written by one of the greatest of the early New Orleans jazz masters, Jelly Roll Morton, a “Creole of Color” who performed in the honkytonks and juke joints of the city. Though later in life Jelly Roll claimed to have invented jazz, his claim cannot be substantiated. Still, he had a tremendous impact on the development of the genre. Jelly Roll was wise enough to compose songs shorter than the 3 minute limit on 78 rpm records. In this way he became an important recording artist with his group Red Hot Peppers which recorded in the 1920’s, and influenced many early musicians who picked up on the style and then changed it through additional improvisation.

 

Mama Inez

“Mama Inez” was part of the repertoire of 1920s Cuban sexteto bands and remains a popular song in New Orleans traditional jazz bands. It should come as no surprise that the Caribbean and New Orleans have so much in common; banana boat excursions traveled between New Orleans and Cuba, Haiti, Martinique, Trinidad, and Guadeloupe transporting produce and music back and forth. To demonstrate the close relationship between New Orleans and the Caribbean, ranger Bruce Barnes inserts into the middle of this song, “Ban mwen yon ti bo,” a song in the beguine style from Martinique written by Alexandre Stellio (1885-1939). Bruce sings this song in Martiniquen Creole and the melody is very similar to “Mama Inez.”

Eliseo Grenet, Cuban pianist and composer, is credited with penning “Mama Inez” although some musicians in New Orleans consider this piece to have stronger Louisiana roots.  “Mama Inez” may also have roots in the comparsa traditions that occur during Cuban Carnival. A comparsa is the band that performs during a conga line, consisting of a large group of dancers followed by a carrosa (carriage) carrying the musicians. This tradition comes from African religious processions.